3 SOME HISTORY . ..I: those days, there was only one revolution : not men and women, ‘ou signed its petitions, pilng that freedom begets more freedom. —Enid Dame’ joing, and though it viewed people as workers, others, thought about the international succession jof popular losses in recent months and years: the USS. invasions of Grenada and Panama, the apparent decline of socialism throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, the Sandinista’s electoral loss in Nica- Tagua, and the terrible threat that hangs over Cuba and North Korea.” Both the enormity and brutality of the US.ted massacre in the Persian Gulf and the broad appeal of its yellow-ribboned cheering section here at ‘ome speak profoundly about how far we have been Manipulated into accepting a new world order, where the unchallenged might of a global military-industrial Somplex is acceptable national behavior.* Ls before my return to Nicaragua I, like so many 89Margaret Randall 0 arg ‘Although undermined and in many cases murdereg outright by the United States and its allies, there is no doubt in my mind that the socialist experiments in the construction of a just and process-oriented society were clearly weakened by a range of internal problems Socialism made mistakes—systemic as well as o¢. casional—that contributed to its inability to remain jn power. As a feminist, | look not only at women’s roles in the different experiments but at how these experiments grappled or refused to grapple with a feminist vision, One may begin by considering the ways in which these revolutions addressed or failed to address issues of women’s equality. In all of them, some attention to “women’s issues” was promised in initial programs and platforms, In some of the more recent revolutions—the Vietnamese and Nicaraguan, for example—many more than a few outstanding women participated in the strug- gle for power. A few women occupied important posi- tions in the new peoples’ governments and life for women invariably improved, especially during the first years Sut then something happened. In each case, to vary: ing degrees and in different ways, depending upon the particular culture and moment in time, women’s issues ‘were pushed aside, For one thing, they were generally viewed as just that: women’s issues, rather than as issue’ important to the whole of society. In periods of armed rugele, when every hand is needed against a force 60 ‘uch larger and more powerfully equipped, women SOME HISTORY Ww and even children are welcomed into the trenches When the war is won, however, men once again need women for something else: the solace and comforts of home, with someone pampering their daily needs, giving birth to and raising their children. When the dramatic necessities of guernilla warfare give way to the longer term and more complex problems of govern- ment, men always limit women’s space. What is more confusing and harder to deal with is the fact that many women are themselves willing to retreat into these more traditional roles. On the other hand, changing consciousness requires profound changes in the nature of a country’s education- al effort: changes in the methods as well as in the con- tent of education. Critical thinking must be encouraged Everything must be questioned. Such a challenge to traditional patterns of thought, even to traditional revolu- tionary patterns of thought, is very difficult to come by. A feminist vision, in the broadest sense, is required. Of course we must be careful to assess each revolu- tionary experience within its historic framework, not to expect more from a particular situation than its time can give. But this is always about power: who has it, what they will do to keep it, and what can be done by those who lack it so that it may be distributed more equitably. Where gender is concerned, this question has its par- ticular contours, because women are not a minority. In fact, in every country we are slightly more than half the Population, a condition that gives us great potential for Struggle. A multiply oppressed group and the majority: